It has been a long, interesting journey for P. George
Bird, whose 51-year career with Eastern Michigan University's
Theatre Department came to a curtain close after
his direction of "A Streetcar Named Desire" earlier this
month.
Over the decades, Bird has seen changes even he could
not have foretold.
 |
SWAN SONG: P. George Bird, technical director
for
EMU Theatre, poses in front of a set for "A
Streetcar
Named Desire." The play was Bird's last
directorial
effort, capping a 51-year-career at
EMU. |
"There were only two of us here when I first came to EMU," Bird
said. "We only did three plays a year, in Roosevelt Hall,
two of which were faculty-directed. So, from the
student's perspective, they only had one 'big' production
a year. Now everything is just bigger. It's just grown
in many, many different ways."
There were only 3,200 students on campus when the 79-year-old
Bird arrived at Michigan State Normal College. "You knew
every professor, ever administrator, every student. Some
of the changes are not necessarily better just because
they are bigger. The sense of community was different from
what it is today."
Having worn many different hats with the theatre department,
including professor, set designer, electrician and carpenter,
in addition to directing, Bird remembered the early days
of EMU theatre fondly.
"Tickets were only 75 cents back then (1956). We really
were more like a family then because we cared about each
other and were pretty much all we had. Because all of the
scenery for the sets was stored in the basement of Welch
Hall, we had to get a University truck and load the things
to haul over to Roosevelt to set up. Then we had to break
down the sets — either that night or Sunday morning — and
take them back as there was always some other activity
or a rehearsal going on that we had to make way for.
"We really don't have that kind of community now," he
continued. "Students have changed. Back then, they were
anxious to learn. Many of them were the first in their
families to go to college and that brought a certain kind
of responsibility and expectation with it. That's not necessarily
true now."
The Oshkosh, Wisc., native had originally started on a
different career path.
"I was an electrical engineering major," Bird explained, "until
I flunked calculus. I thought, if I can't pass calculus,
I'm not going to be a very good electrical engineer! I
had done a lot of acting in high school, where, with only
83 students, I was a star. But I had no idea what I would
be at the University of Wisconsin. I auditioned for a play
my freshman year, got the part, and became a theatre major.
I never looked back."
Bird cautions his students to be realistic about their
pursuits in acting.
 |
PROVIDING DIRECTION: (from left) P. George
Bird
directs some of his actors during a recent
rehearsal
for "A Streetcar Named Desire." |
"Making a living in theatre is not necessarily based on
talent," he said. "Many theatre majors don't do anything
with this craft after they graduate. But, for many others,
it is the opening to many other areas of their life, things
such as public speaking, the ability to communicate effectively
or to elicit a certain kind of response. These are all
useful skills in other areas of life. You do what you do
and you do it the best that you can."
As for the impressive legacy that he leaves at EMU, Bird
says he really hasn't thought about it a lot.
"If I have to be remembered for something, let it be that
I worked hard at what I did and I expected my students
to do the same thing," he said.
Don't look for retirement to slow Bird down.
"I'm not good in a rocking chair," he said. "I'll miss
the students and some of my colleagues. I work with many,
many good people. I have an extensive rose garden and some
orchids coming up that I'd like to get my hands on. I also
like auctions and antiquing for 18th- and 19th-century
furniture. I'm not totally discounting working in some
community productions, or helping out my wife, who is the
director of theatre at Concordia University. My wife will
decide what I'll do."
